Saving Blue Beetle
by Empress and Protector
Summary: His whole mission, coming to the past and all, revolved around keeping Blue Beetle off mode. But Impulse goes through a lot of ups and downs while he's in the past. SLASH Bluepulse


**Author's note: So through this whole thing i was making it up as i wrote it so if its crap im sorry. also it was nearly all done by memory so if i got some details wrong I'm sorry about that as well. But on the good side Bluepulse! or Speedbuggy! Whichever it is you chose to call this ship.**

**disclaimer: If I owned YJ these two would be canon.**

Bart curled up, his whole body shaking. Halfway from the cold weather and halfway from the newly inflicted wounds. He'd tried smuggling the last part for his time machine but Blue Beetle caught him and punished him for it. He had bruises all over him and fresh cuts on his back. His only friend was trying to get him to relax so he could tend to the cuts but Bart was too cold and in too much pain for it to matter. With a sigh Nathaniel sat down in front of him "Bart, I need to clean your back. If it gets infected you know they won't cut you any slack."

The boy just curled tighter into a ball "I'm so close though. I can do this I just...I need to avoid Blue Beetle." he said bitterly.

"You won't be able to finish if your back is ripped to shreds." Nathaniel pointed out.

Bart looked at the man, a frown on his face. As much as he hated it, Nathaniel was right. He sighed and pulled off his shirt, shivering in the cold. "Just hurry. The sooner I can get to the past and stop this all from happening the better."

Nathaniel moved to clean the cuts on Bart's back as he spoke "You do realize, if you succeed you'll have no reason to have gone to the past and you'll cease to exist there?"

The frown was still on the boy's face as he nodded "I know. But I have to do this. I have to save you and" he hissed in pain as Nathaniel cleaned the cuts. "save you and Blue."

"What if you're wrong? What if Blue Beetle isn't the weapon that the Reach used to win?" Nathaniel asked.

"He has to be! Everything was set for a good guys to win before the Reach gained control of Blue. If I save him from going on mode then everything'll be totally crash." Bart exclaimed. Nathaniel sighed but said nothing. He honestly did hope the boy would succeed but he feared he wouldn't.

* * *

A few weeks later Bart was working on his time machine when Nathaniel walked up to him. "How's it coming?" the man asked.

"Almost finished." Bart said, not turning to look at his friend.

"Wish I could go along." Nathaniel said, sighing slightly.

Bart turned to look at him "Sorry, only seats one." He looked back at the machine, finishing up what he was working on. A moment later he stood from his crouched position and turned to Nathaniel. "Well, its done. Guess I better go change." he said, running off in a blur and then returning in a white and red outfit with goggles.

"Good luck my friend." Nathaniel said.

Bart smiled at him "Thanks, for everything." His friend offered a final nod before he climbed into the machine. Moments later, after rocking back and forth in the poorly built machine he felt everything stop. He opened the door and jumped out "Tada!" he exclaimed, quickly taking note of the room he was now in.

It was a circular room with three people in it. He automatically recognized them as Nightwing, Robin and Beast Boy. There was an alarm going off telling them of an intruder, although he was right in front of them so the alarm was sort of pointless. Nightwing was the first to speak, talking to the computer and not him "Computer lock down cave."

The green boy next to him then said "Well, I guess we found our 'unknown energy impulse'." Bart could only assume that's what the cave's computer had called his machine.

Bart laughed "Impulse? That's so crash! Catchy, dramatic, one word" he said, then running over to them at super speed. "Like Nightwing and Robin and Beast Boy except that's two words. Hey! Blue Beetle's two words too! Is he here?" he ran over to the door way "Never mind, Impulse can find that out for himself." He laughed again before speeding off, searching the cave for Blue Beetle. He found the showers first, commenting on the retro-ness of them, but no Blue Beetle. He sped through the room, twisting all the showers on before speeding out just as Beast Boy ran in and crashed into the wall. His next place to check was the kitchen and living room, which were connected so he could check both at the same time. During his search in there he encountered Robin, who attempted to hit him with a horizontal strike from his bo staff. Bart However easily ducked under it, making a comment about "Limbo time.". Again, no sign of Blue Beetle. He ran back towards the room he'd started in. When he saw Nightwing had splayed marbles on the floor he smirked and ran up the wall, avoiding them. He stopped at the end of the hallway and laughed, making a comment about it being easy to get past when Nightwing got the drop on him and took him to the ground.

Nightwing clipped handcuffs onto Bart's wrists and ankles before standing and saying "Now that was crash."

Bart groaned and rolled over to look at the man "For you maybe, I'm totally feeling the mode."

* * *

When he finally did meet Blue Beetle he was shocked, this time's Blue looked nothing like the Blue Beetle he knew. He was used to seeing a huge man, covered in a ridiculous amount of muscle. Not a skinny sixteen year old boy. Bart pouted slightly, even with how much smaller Blue was he still stood five or six inches taller than him. "Ese you okay?" Blue asked.

Bart stirred from his thoughts "Huh? Oh totally crash." he said quickly, trying to cover for getting lost in thought and staring at Blue.

"You seemed a bit out of it." Blue commented.

Bart shrugged "Nah, just a bit hungry. Hey! You wanna go get something to eat?" he asked energetically.

Blue hesitated, he'd just met Bart but he seemed pretty nice. "Sure, but I have to be home in time to do my homework and chores."

"Hellooooo speedster here! I can get you home in a flash." Bart said, smiling and leading Blue away.

* * *

Weeks later Bart was running to El Paso, wanting to see Jaime. He knocked rapidly on Jaime's front door. He knew it was late and that he probably shouldn't have come but he couldn't shake the fear his dream had left him with. When the door opened Jaime was only wearing his boxers. Bart blushed slightly at the sight of his friend is so little but tried not to think about it. "Hermano, what're you doing here so late?" Jaime asked.

Bart fidgeted, shifting his weight from his left foot to his right and then back to the left. "I just wanted to spend some time with you. I mean you're like my only friend here so I got lonely and wanted to come see you." he said quickly, rambling slightly.

Jaime sighed and let his friend into the house. For a while they sat around, played video games and ate snacks. The whole time Bart had kept getting distracted or rambled every time he opened his mouth or merely not speaking at all. Bart got tired of the games after some time, he sighed and leaned backwards, although he was sideways on the couch. "Hey hermano, are you okay?" Jaime asked when they both grew quiet.

"Huh? Oh yeah. Course I am. Totally crash." Bart said, although it was a lie that a child could see through. Obviously something was eating at him but he didn't want to admit it.

Jaime turned to sit sideways so he was facing the younger boy. He paused for a moment, listening to the scarab telling him something but he didn't respond to it. "I can see through your Bart. What's wrong hermano?"

Bart sighed and leaned sideways, letting his head fall on the back of the couch. "I'm just...scared."

"Of what?" Jaime asked.

"I'm scared that if we win this, if we beat the Reach that I'll get pulled out of the past because there would no longer be any reason for me to be here. But if that doesn't happen I'll always be scared I failed." Bart said, looking at his lap.

"Hermano, whatever happens it'll be okay." he said, trying to comfort his friend.

"But...either way I won't have you. I'll either be gone, or you'll be on mode." Bart said, cringing when he realized what he'd said. "I mean, the whole team would be crushed to lose you." he said, trying to cover the slip he made.

Jaime gave his friend a sad look "Bart," he said, reaching out to put a comforting hand over Bart's hand. "I'd never betray the human race. You know that."

Bart looked up at his friend, his eyes clouded with fear and worry "But you do! In my past, your future, Blue Beetle is the biggest big bad!" he dropped his head again, murmuring to himself "I've got too many scars from Blue."

He hadn't meant for Jaime to hear but he knew he'd been heard when Jaime pulled his hand back slightly. "I...I hurt you?" Jaime asked, horrified that he would do such a thing.

Ignoring the tears that were gathering in his eyes Bart nodded. "That's why I came back. To save you."

"Why did you come here? Tonight?" Jaime asked.

"I couldn't sleep. I was having nightmares of my past." Bart said, hating that he was scared of dreams. But they were painful reminders of what would happen if he failed. Blue Beetle would be put on mode and every bad thing that happens in his past would still happen. All his scars would remain, all the pain and fear he had in him would never leave.

"About what?" Jaime asked timidly, not sure he wanted to hear the answer. Bart just shook his head, refusing to answer. "It was me wasn't it?" Jaime guessed. Bart nodded this time, still not saying anything. "Hermano I..." he trailed off, not sure what to say.

Bart looked up at his friend "It's not your fault! That will only happen if I fail." he said, tears falling from his eyes.

Jaime kept one hand on Bart's hand while he used the other to wipe away the tears. "Hey, you won't fail mi amor. I trust you." Bart didn't say anything after that, he merely wrapped his arms around his friend in a hug. The two fell asleep on the couch curled up together that night. When morning came Jaime's mom saw them and took a picture, planning to use it as blackmail on her son. Bart however asked for the picture, simply so he'd have a fond memory of Jaime to keep with him. In case he failed his mission.

* * *

It wasn't until another week passed that it clicked in Bart's head what Jaime had said. Normally Jaime called him, or anyone for that matter, hermano or ese but that night before they'd fallen asleep he said mi amor. Bart was no expert on Spanish but he'd heard Jaime saying something similar to his parents and sister whenever they left. He bit his lip before running to the nearest library. When he got there he quickly asked the librarian if there were any books on Spanish. The woman nodded and told him where to look. As soon as she finished talking, which to Bart had taken forever, he ran to the section she'd mentioned. He found a Spanish dictionary in less than a second and scanned the pages for the word amor. When he found it his heart skipped a beat, seeing that the word amor means love. He put the book back on the shelf then sped out of the library, running to El Paso. Arriving at Jaime's place he knocked repeatedly until the door opened. It was Jaime's mother who'd answered. "Hey Mrs. Reyes, is Jaime around?"

She shook her head "No, he's out with Tye. I think they're at the skate park."

Bart nodded "Thanks. I'll go look for him there." he said with a smile then speeding off. Mrs. Reyes was always kind to him so he did his best to respect her. Moments later Bart arrived at the skate park and sure enough Jaime and Tye were there along with a number of other boys. Bart waved at Jaime to get his attention. A minute later Jaime was standing next to Bart, confused about why he was there. "Hey Blue! H-how ya doing?" Bart asked, hating that he was stumbling over his words.

"I'm good. What're you doing here hermano?" Jaime replied.

Bart frowned slightly when Jaime said hermano. "I was thinking about last week and then I realized you'd called me amor and so I ran to the library cause I didn't know what it meant." he said, rambling but Jaime already knew where he was headed with it. "So when I found out it means love I came here as fast as I could cause I wanted to know if you'd meant to say that or if it just kinda happened."

Jaime bit his lip, thinking about what to say. He hadn't meant to say that to Bart but he couldn't say it wasn't true. "To be honest hermano I hadn't intended to say that." he saw Bart frown "But that doesn't mean I didn't mean it."

A hesitant smile formed on Bart's lips. "Really?" Jaime nodded at his friend, smiling down at him. The hesitant smile that had been on Bart's lips was replaced with a wide grin as he wrapped his arms around Jaime in a hug.

* * *

Not long after that conversation Blue Beetle betrayed them. Bart hadn't been able to see what happened, as he'd been the first one Blue knocked unconscious. When he came too he couldn't get past the guilt that he'd failed. It was exactly what he'd been scared of, losing his friend to the Reach. He tried to stay calm around the team but as soon as he was alone at the Garrick's home he let out his anger, punching a wall. He pulled his hand off the wall and dropped it to his side, not caring about the blood on his knuckles. He let himself fall to his knees, everything he'd tried to avoid was happening. Blue was on mode, set to becoming one of the biggest bad guys ever. A few minutes later he heard a knock on his door. "Hey kid, can I come in?" a voice asked. Bart recognized it as Wally.

"Yeah." he said, not bothering to move from his place on the floor.

The door opened and Wally walked in, sitting down on the bed. "Nightwing told me what happened."

"And?"

"He wanted me to make sure you're okay." Wally said.

Bart looked up at him "Why would I be okay? I just failed my mission. I came here to stop Blue from going on mode and now look what I did! He's on mode and I can't do anything!"

Wally frowned at the young speedster's negative attitude "Hey kid, calm down. The team has a habit of doing the impossible."

"Dude, if I couldn't change the timeline I really don't see how you guys can do anything. No offence man but crashing the mode isn't easy." Bart said.

"Never said it would be easy, just said that if anyone could do it it's those guys. Stick with them and you'll get your friend back." Wally said, trying to encourage the boy. Bart merely nodded to that, not wanting to talk. Wally noticed his knuckles bleeding and the hole in the wall "Come on kid, let's get your hand cleaned up."

* * *

Just like Wally had said the team did the impossible. They stopped the Reach, Black Beetle, sent the Light running and most importantly got Blue Beetle off mode. Bart sped over to Blue, automatically hugging him. Blue chuckled and returned the hug "Good to see you too mi amor." he said.

Bart tightened his grip on Blue "I was so worried I'd never get you back Jaime."

"Don't worry mi amor, I'm here, it's me." Blue said. When Bart finally did pull away Blue retracted the armor.

"Of course it's you." Bart said, smiling. Jaime returned the smile, wrapping his arms around the smaller boy again. For several moments they remained like that. Bart buried his face in Jaime's shoulder while Jaime rested his head on top of Bart's head. When Jaime pulled back it was only enough for him to lean down and capture Bart's lips with his own. Bart hadn't been expecting the kiss to happen, but he was nowhere near complaining. It was slow and fairly light but loving all the same. Neither wanted to part but they both needed air, so they pulled apart but kept their foreheads together. Bart smiled at Jaime, completely content to stay with him forever. "I love you Jaime."

Jaime smiled at the words, "I love you too Bart." he responded, pressing another gentle kiss to Bart's lips. Jaime could tell when Bart was reverting to his normal energetic self when he started pushing back, turning the sweet kiss into a sloppy mess. Before either of them knew it Jaime had Bart pinned to a wall, their hands both tangled in each other's hair. Jaime took the lead in the kiss, sticking his tongue into Bart's mouth, an action which caused the speedster to vibrate suddenly. Jaime pulled back a minute to laugh before Bart yanked him back into the kiss.


End file.
